


Discussing Heero Yuy, 206 AC

by alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist



Series: High Hopes series [2]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Yaoi, by Anria
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-12 01:03:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13536366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist/pseuds/alittlepieceofgundamwing_archivist
Summary: by Anria--"Now, children, we're going on a very special visit today. We're going to visit the grave of Heero Yuy, the man who saved the Earth and the colonies twice, and gave his life doing so. Come, come, now children, hurry up. We don't want to be late.""Miss, he's not going anywhere."





	Discussing Heero Yuy, 206 AC

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).
> 
> This is the sequel to 'High Hopes'. It has no real content as far as I'm concerned. Sorry it's so short.

"Now, children, we're going on a very special visit today. We're going to visit the grave of Heero Yuy, the man who saved the Earth and the colonies twice, and gave his life doing so."  
  
Loud groans from the assembled children _\--_ well, teenagers.  
  
"And he was no more than sixteen years old when all this happened."  
  
Mutters about how no one their age could have done all that. Had to be exaggerated.  
  
"Come, come, now children, hurry up. We don't want to be late."  
  
"Miss, he's not going anywhere."  
  
Snickers.  
  
The teacher scowled at her class as they filed past her up the hill towards the grave of a man who, in her opinion, was one of the greatest to ever have lived.  
  
"Can't we study one of the other Gundam pilots? Like 05, or 02? Those two were the coolest."  
  
"You just want to study them because they have cool jobs now."  
  
"Well, 02's stopped loads of assassination attempts on Relena Darlian ever since he took up the job of protecting her, and he's such a great fighter! All you have to do is see the videos! And 05 _\--_ well he's a high-ranking Preventer, isn't he? He's so cool!"  
  
"We are going to study Heero Yuy, not Duo Maxwell or Chang Wufei. 01 was the most important of all the Gundam pilots, you understand me?"  
  
The two arguing teenagers fell silent at the teacher's fierce glare.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
"Now then." They were at the top of the hill. A white marble tombstone, beautifully carved and bearing the inscription, `Heero Yuy, Gundam pilot 01, 180 AC - 196 AC' stood there, all alone.  
  
"We have come here on the anniversary of 01's ultimate sacrifice for this special lesson."  
  
"Yeah, so she could drag us all out of home on Christmas Eve," one student muttered.  
  
"Quiet." The teacher glared at the students until they quieted. She took a deep breath and began. "Now, Heero Yuy gave his life for the freedom you now enjoy ten years ago today, when you were all just children. He was a great man, with a love of life and the Earth _\--_ "  
  
"Bullshit."  
  
"What?" The teacher whipped around, to confront the voice that interrupted her from behind.  
  
A man was standing from where he had been seated behind the headstone. All clad in black, he stood some six feet tall, lithe and slender. A black cap was tucked low over his face, and a long chestnut braid fell down his back.  
  
"And just who are you to say things like this about Earth's savior?" she demanded haughtily.  
  
The strange man chuckled. "You call him Earth's savior. Lady, Heero turned up late to the battle you're talking of, tried to kill himself more times than I can count on both hands and feet, and could barely string five words together into a sentence. He's only commemorated because his training did not allow him to comprehend the concept of failure. He was a brilliant soldier, but a totally screwed up person."  
  
The children were interested now, and the teacher was livid. "Who are you to know this?" she demanded.  
  
"Lady, I was the first person he ever called a friend. Even if the first time we met he was gonna blow Relena's brains out."  
  
"What?"  
  
The man leaned back on the headstone. "He had a gun pointed at Relena Peacecraft's head. He was going to kill her. I shot him before he got a chance. Still don't know why I didn't shoot to kill. No wait, actually I do know," he reflect, "I'm just not gonna tell you." He shifted, placing his weight on his hands. "You know, the stuff you teach about the wars in schools now is just a load of bullshit. You could never understand it unless you had been there."  
  
"Oh, and I suppose you were there, then?"  
  
The man chuckled. "You sound like Relena. The first few hundred times I met her, that is. After we met at Heero's funeral she got better, though. Grew up a bit. And yes, I was there. I was the reason the Gundams got the reputation that anyone who saw them had to die."  
  
"You're Duo Maxwell, aren't you?"  
  
It wasn't the teacher this time. Instead, the boy who had been praising 02 and 05 earlier on spoke up.  
  
Duo smiled. "Yeah, kid, I am."  
  
"You can't be," the teacher gasped.  
  
Duo took off the cap, scratching at his head. "Well, I can't remember being anyone else," he said, then clapped the cap back on.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell, what was it like in the battles?" the children were actually interested now.  
  
"During them, it was an adrenaline rush _\--_ you were reveling in the fact that you were better than your opponents, stronger, faster, just a better pilot. Afterwards. . . ." Duo trailed off. "Afterwards, all you could hear was the screams of the dead and dying. Being a soldier isn't a good thing, kid. But then, at least the rest of us weren't as screwed up as Heero."  
  
"How come?"  
  
"Took me two years to get him to admit one emotion. Just one. Before the rest of us started working on him, trying to get him to become a normal person, he had no emotions, no self worth. He was a machine focused only on the battle. He had been genetically modified to be stronger, faster, have better endurance than a human." Duo chuckled. "He tried to kill me a few times. Because I was a distraction to the mission."  
  
"Then why are you alive?"  
  
"Because I can talk my way out of anything." The manic grin settled into place.  
  
"That can't be why," the kid said, disbelieving.  
  
Duo looked down at him, and there was just something in his eyes that scared and enthralled the people who saw it at the same time. "No, it wasn't," he said, "but it's personal, and I'm not gonna pour out my personal life for general dispensation." He checked his watch. "Dammit. Relena's gonna have my ass for lunch if I don't hurry up." He started down the hill.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell?"  
  
Duo stopped and turned back to the teacher. "What?"  
  
"What was it you were fighting for? Your personal reasons?"  
  
"You really wanna know the truth?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Sure? It's gonna shock you."  
  
"I want to know."  
  
Duo smiled. "I fought to make sure that Heero didn't try to blow himself up again. I fought so I could protect his cute tush, because even though I took the piss out of him relentlessly for wearing spandex, his ass was the nicest thing I'd ever seen. But mostly I fought so we could both go back to whichever safehouse we were in at that point and fuck the hell out of each other." Then Duo turned around and walked down the hill, laughing his head off at the shocked look on her conservative face.

end


End file.
